Notebook: Losing streak could bring changes

Approaching the tail end of a busy week, Gregg Berhalter saw a tired bunch of Crew players last
Friday. And as he looked ahead to Saturday’s home game with Vancouver, the Crew coach said he was
considering making changes to the lineup to negate some heavy legs.

What followed was one lineup change and a 1-0 loss that marked the Crew’s third straight defeat.
Today, after the first training session of the week in advance of Saturday’s road game against
Portland, Berhalter again said changes could be on tap.

This time, those words might carry more weight given the Crew's recent form.

“You want to give guys enough credit when they play that they don’t feel like if they have an
off game they’re going to be out of the lineup,” Berhalter said. “But I think after three losses
you’re certainly going to have to evaluate the starters and evaluate their performance and I think
some doors are open for some guys to step in.”

At least one change will be forced upon Berhalter: captain and starting center back Michael
Parkhurst will be gone, having been called into United States camp. Fellow starting defenders
Giancarlo Gonzalez and Waylon Francis are scheduled to remain with the Crew through the Timbers
game before departing for Costa Rica’s camp, but the possibility exists that the Crew could be
pressured into letting them leave before the week is out.

Monday, Berhalter cited Tyson Wahl and Eric Gehrig as likely replacements at center back. If
just Parkhurst is gone, Wahl seems the odds-on favorite to fill his spot at left center back.

Josh Williams has started all 10 games this season at right back, but has played all four
defensive positions during his Crew career. Berhalter would not rule out a move inside to center
back but added, “I’d say that’s not our immediate thought.”

In addition, Kevan George has been recalled from USL Pro affiliate Dayton, where he played a
full 90 minutes in all seven of the Dutch Lion’s games so far this year at center back. He has
experience at both center back and defensive midfielder, but Berhalter has said he views George as
a central defender. He is an option to start as well.

It’s more of an unknown situation at left back, where just Francis has played this season.
Rookie and first-round draft pick Ben Sweat seems atop the depth chart behind Francis, while
Agustin Viana has experience there but has almost exclusively played as a defensive midfielder for
Berhalter.

“There’s a couple different options, but certainly the workload itself makes it difficult to
play, makes that position difficult for guys to step in and just do it,” Berhalter said. “We’re
going to have to look at that carefully this week and see who’s the best fit for that.”

With World Cup call-ups pending, Berhalter said last week that reinforcements could be in the
works. Today, he said that he was referring to both recalling George and possibly bringing in
players from outside the organization.

“I think that he’s obviously a guy we’ve been looking at how he’s doing but we’ve also been
looking on the market to see what’s available,” he said. “We’re going to probably look to bring
someone in, but we’ll see.”

That someone does not appear to be Swedish striker Lasse Nilsson – at least for now. Multiple
reports surfaced out of Sweden during the weekend that Nilsson was set to fly here to try and
finalize a contract with the Crew, but later reports quoted him as saying MLS was intriguing but
not likely right now.

Asked if there were any truth to those rumors, Berhalter said, “Not that I can see.”

WaitingWhile five players remain on loan to Dayton and the rest with the Crew, Ben Speas finds
himself in a weird no-man’s land. Ten games in, Speas is the only player who has been a healthy
scratch from all first-team games this season and has not been sent to the Dutch Lions.

So why hasn’t he seen any game action, much less been in the Crew’s game-day 18?

“With Ben, it’s complicated,” Berhalter said. “I think he’s a good player who shows promise and
we’re looking for a way to integrate him in. Right now we see him best in Federico (Higuain)’s
position. That’s where we really see him making the most impact. He needs to get games. He needs to
be playing. Sometimes with the college games we can give him some rhythm, but I think he’s a very
good player with a lot of potential.”